Today’s Meditation

From The Upper Room

The World’s Most Widely Read Daily Devotional Guide

Read Psalm 71:1-14

O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!

-Psalm 71:12(NRSV)

My grandmother was a champion at praying. She could pray for 20 minutes without taking a breath, and she seasoned her prayers liberally with unfamiliar sounding words from the King James Bible. Her prayers were intimidating in scope, scale, and content. However, when she suffered a series of strokes, her prayers became simple and direct. I held her hand in the hospital as she whispered, simply, “O God, help me; O Jesus, comfort me.”

Like my grandmother, the psalmists model both eloquent praying and how to cut through fancy language to the heart of the matter. In the midst of lofty verses in the psalms, we often find the song of the heart: “Save me,” “Rescue me,” “Hear me,” “Do not forsake me.” God is the source of salvation, protection, comfort, and victory in times of great need.

Psalm 71 shows us how Jesus might have prayed in his last week, knowing the great trials he would endure and finding solace and comfort in God’s great power and grace. Jesus needed to feel God’s presence and guiding hand that week in Jerusalem. (See Luke 19-23.) And when we struggle in uncertainty or pain, we can remember that for us as for Jesus, God is still “a rock of refuge, a strong fortress.”

Dan R. Dick

(Wisconsin, USA)

Prayer:
O Lord, be our refuge when the pressures and demands of life grow too great. Receive us, rescue us, and restore we, that we may share your praise and good news. Amen.

Thought for the Day:
We are welcomed to say to God whatever is in our heart.